TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to visit poll-bound Meghalaya on Jan 18

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will visit Meghalaya on January 18 to hold a public meeting in North Garo Hills district to boost the morale of party functionaries ahead of the assembly elections due this year in the northeastern state.

This will be her second visit to the state in recent times as she had addressed a TMC workers' convention last month and participated in pre-Christmas celebrations there.

Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister, will hold a public meeting at Mendipathar in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district on Wednesday, the party said.

She will be accompanied by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Leader of TMC parliamentary party in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien, Meghalaya TMC in-charge Manas R Bhunia, its state president Charles Pyngrope and leader of opposition Mukul Sangma will be present at the meeting.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited Meghalaya last month to attend Golden Jubilee celebrations of the North-Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong.

The TMC has been trying to strengthen its foothold in the northeastern state along with Assam and Tripura in the region.

In November 2021, 12 of the 17 MLAs of the Congress in Meghalaya had joined the TMC, making it the principal opposition party in the 60-member assembly of the hill state.

During her visit in December last year, Mamata Banerjee launched Meghalaya TMC's financial assistance scheme for women, which has recorded over 3.14 lakh registrations so far, the party statement said.

The northeastern state is now governed by a coalition of NPP, BJP and others.